At the end of the day, Fang Zhishui, carrying medicine and snacks, took a ride home.
The house was still desolate. Ignoring everyone, she went straight to her room and shut the door.
She arranged the strawberry-flavored snacks all over a table.
Merchants liked to use pink and red to represent strawberries, and the entire table turned pink. The plastic bags and boxes together formed a pink wall, blocking out the grayness of the real world.
Fang Zhishui was a little reluctant to eat them. She just sat at the table, staring at the snacks, touching the plastic bags as if they were some rare artifact.
Thump-thump-thump, someone knocked on the door.
In this house, only one person knocked.
Fang Zhishui asked in a low voice:
“What is it?”
Her voice carried a hint of irritation. The person outside paused, and after a while, said:
“It’s Mom, I want to see you.”
Fang Zhishui quietly walked over and opened the door.
Outside was a lady with a delicate appearance and pale skin, possessing an extremely frail temperament and a tall, thin figure. Her posture standing outside the door resembled a delicate flower often battered by wind and rain, on the verge of collapse.
It was Fang Zhishui’s mother, Mi Lan, a female Omega with exceptional aptitude.
Fang Zhishui sat down at the table and started tidying up the snacks.
Mi Lan walked over, saw that Fang Zhishui was only using her right hand to put things away while her left arm hung motionlessly by her side, and immediately burst into tears.
“It’s my fault… to have made you protect me yesterday, it’s all my fault, daughter, Mom was wrong…”
Fang Zhishui used her right hand to put the snacks away, carefully putting them one bag at a time into a large bag, tying it up, and putting it into a large box.
She didn’t respond at all, and Mi Lan found it hard to keep crying.
Mi Lan held back her tears and sat there blankly.
Fang Zhishui took out a large bag of medicine and examined each item closely. Mi Lan saw this and reached out to stop her.
“Don’t use those, haven’t you seen the family doctor already? Why won’t you accept bandaging? Bandaging would help it heal faster. You are at a critical stage of differentiation; you can only use the medicine prescribed by the doctor. Where did you get these things? Let me take them away and throw them out…”
“Don’t touch them!”
Fang Zhishui’s voice suddenly rose in volume, startling Mi Lan to lean back, her eyes once again threatening to overflow with tears.
“You… your injury is all because of me. I can’t let you use medicine of unknown origin…”
But Fang Zhishui remained unmoved. She stared coldly at her biological mother and spoke each word out harshly:
“You, manage yourself, and don’t meddle in my affairs. I got injured to resist her, not for you. Don’t flatter yourself.”
Mi Lan’s tears streamed down:
“But clearly, you blocked your arm in front of me, that’s how you got stabbed by her knife… If it weren’t for you, Mom would have been injured today. Mom knows you are my good daughter…”
Fang Zhishui rubbed her temples, half-closing her eyes, feeling that everything before her was extremely dim, without a trace of hope.
Her mother, extremely weak her entire life, worse than a mere vine, Fang Zhishui had always looked down on her, but she would never join the other two in bullying her.
“Enough, if you must cry, go cry outside. I need to do my homework.”
Mi Lan quickly stopped crying, choked back a sob, wiped her face with a wet wipe, and then assumed an expression of earnest discussion.
“The company wants you to do an internship during the winter break. What do you think? You could also help your father and older brother…”
She came around in a circle, eventually still being a lobbyist for the executioner.
Fang Zhishui found it quite amusing. She stood up, opened the door, and gestured for Mi Lan to leave.
“Get out, I need to study.”
Mi Lan opened her mouth, wanting to say more, but ultimately held back.
Her eyes were exactly the same as Fang Zhishui’s melancholy, slender, and excessively beautiful but at this moment, those eyes held only emptiness and numbness.
Mi Lan left. Fang Zhishui slammed the door shut, sat back down at her desk.
She opened and clenched her fingers several times, her gaze turning to the box of snacks. Finally, she calmed down, took out her books and papers, and started working on problems.
Ruan Mei was not on duty this weekend. She brought her grandmother to the mall to see Sister Chuang.
“Hello, Sister Chuang! This is my grandma! Grandma, this is my supervisor, Sister Chuang. This month’s bonus was all thanks to her fighting for it for me!”
Ruan Mei’s grandmother no longer looked as gaunt as she did initially. She sized up Sister Chuang up and down, and only after a while did she slowly extend her hand to shake the person’s.
“Xiao Chuang, is that right? My granddaughter has mentioned you many times, saying you are very strict! Being strict at work is a good habit, but if you dare bully my granddaughter, this old woman won’t let you off!”
Sister Chuang had maintained a stern expression, shaking hands with the grandmother in a very businesslike manner. Hearing this, she let out a short laugh.
“Grandma, do you think I’m afraid of you? Everything follows company regulations. If your granddaughter can’t meet my requirements, no matter what you say, I will still punish her as required!”
Ruan Mei stood to the side, trembling slightly. Why did the atmosphere become so tense right after the introduction? Had she made a mistake introducing her grandmother and Sister Chuang?
Unexpectedly, after this exchange, the two hands that were clasped held even tighter.
The grandmother’s eyes flashed with admiration, and a smile was on her face. Sister Chuang had a similar expression. The two looked at each other, seeming to have found a kindred spirit.
Ruan Mei:
“???”
Sister Chuang gave them many coupons, even more than she had previously promised. Ruan Mei was overjoyed. After expressing profuse thanks, she took her grandmother to stroll through the clothing stores in the mall.
“Why are we coming to such an expensive place, Meimei? You little brat, if you dare waste money, I won’t agree! We agreed on just one padded jacket. If you dare buy more, I’ll break your legs!”
The grandmother followed Ruan Mei into the store. After seeing the price tags, she immediately came back out, pulling Ruan Mei and sternly warning her, afraid her granddaughter would spend too much money.
“It’s okay, Grandma! Sister Chuang gave me so many coupons. Look, these are internal employee benefits for the mall, valid at various stores. If we don’t take advantage and spend a bit, they’ll expire!”
Ruan Mei pulled her grandmother into another store. She was determined today to buy her grandmother two sets of outfits and two winter coats, and she wouldn’t take no for an answer!
The grandmother went into the fitting room to try on clothes. Ruan Mei stood outside, browsing casually, when she happened to overhear someone saying:
“Oh, look, I see a high school uniform from No. 1 High. Who else would it be but you?”
Ruan Mei turned around and saw Wan Shanshan, followed by a few lackeys. She immediately frowned.
Wan Shanshan had been opposing Ruan Mei for many years. The two had come from the same junior high school. In junior high, Wan Shanshan had always been subordinate to Ruan Mei, and even now in high school, she was still a step below Ruan Mei, which always annoyed her.
Seeing Ruan Mei standing in the clothing store, Wan Shanshan couldn’t resist taunting her:
“Look at you, coming out shopping still wearing your school uniform… What are you doing standing in front of a store when you’re so poor? Hurry up and get out of the way, you can’t afford anything, go bother someone else.”
Ruan Mei didn’t know what to say, so she just smiled without speaking.
Unexpectedly, her silence made Wan Shanshan even angrier, as if that smile was full of mockery. Wan Shanshan rushed into the store and grabbed Ruan Mei’s collar!
“What are you smiling at? Haven’t you become some little crybaby now? The school bully position is mine. If you dare smile again, I’ll cut your mouth!”
Ruan Mei felt a bit scared when grabbed like that. Just then, the fitting room door opened, and the grandmother walked out with a coat in hand.
“Meimei, this doesn’t fit very well… You little rascal, who are you? Let go of my granddaughter!”
The thin grandmother threw the coat down and rushed forward with surprising force!
No one expected that such astonishing momentum could come from such a frail body. Wan Shanshan was startled, but she was even more unwilling to let go.
She still had several lackeys behind her. If she let go because she was scared off by an old lady, how could she maintain her position as the school bully leader?
“You damn woman, let go!”
The grandmother, with the notoriously feisty nature of a neighborhood elder, directly slammed Wan Shanshan to the ground!
Wan Shanshan, having her hair grabbed by the grandmother, was momentarily speechless with terror.
Ruan Mei, freed, quickly rushed to hold her grandmother’s back, saying in a flustered voice:
“Grandma, let go quickly, stop hitting her! That’s my classmate…”
Before she finished speaking, the grandmother suddenly lost her strength and slumped softly onto Wan Shanshan.
Wan Shanshan, who had just been screaming for help, was now pinned down by an elderly person and dared not move an inch.
Wan Shanshan’s lackeys, who had been watching the whole time, were also stunned speechless. They quietly slipped away without saying a word.
“Grandma? Grandma, don’t scare me like this, Grandma!”
Ruan Mei cautiously peeked from the side and saw that her grandmother’s eyes were tightly shut, her jaw clenched, and her face looked painful and especially frightening.
“Ah… Please, someone save my grandma!”
Ruan Mei held her grandmother and shouted to the people in the mall, tears streaming down her face uncontrollably. Yet, she felt nothing herself; she frantically fumbled for her phone to call the emergency services (120).
Seeing the situation was turning bad, Wan Shanshan seized the opportunity to slip out and quickly ran away.
“Director Fang, it is truly our honor to have you personally come for an inspection today…”
In a hallway nearby, several people who looked like managers were surrounding a capable, middle-aged woman with long black hair, as they walked past the entrance of this store.
“What’s happening over there?”
The middle aged woman looked over.
“Let’s go take a look, it probably isn’t anything serious…”
The group surrounded the woman and entered the shop. They saw an elderly woman lying on the floor while staff members were diligently performing emergency aid. Beside the elderly woman, a little girl in a school uniform was squatting, her face red from crying.
The Director Fang, who was being surrounded by everyone, casually swept her gaze over the little girl. Then, as if struck by lightning, she suddenly froze, her eyes fixed intently on the little girl’s face.
“The ambulance has already been called… Director Fang?”
The Director Fang snapped back to reality, ordered the people beside her:
“Ensure this elderly woman receives the best possible treatment, we will cover all expenses. Hurry!”
After saying that, her chest rose and fell. She walked toward the little girl and said in an extremely gentle voice:
“Little girl… don’t cry. The mall will cover all your expenses. This elderly woman will be fine.”
Ruan Mei held her grandmother’s hand, her mind in chaos. Hearing such a gentle comfort, she looked up with a hint of gratitude:
“Thank you… My grandma will be okay, she, she has always been very healthy… Waaah, she’s going to be fine, right?”
The exquisite, dazzling, and powerfully charismatic middle aged woman in front of her showed the gentlest smile and nodded lightly.
The ambulance arrived and took the grandmother to the nearest hospital for emergency treatment. The grandmother’s condition soon stabilized, and Ruan Mei finally breathed a sigh of relief.
She had already lost her parents and family in her previous life; she could not afford to lose the only family she had in this life.
The grandmother was arranged into a single private room on the top floor of the hospital. She woke up briefly in the middle of the process, squeezed Ruan Mei’s hand, and fell back asleep.
Ruan Mei, with tear tracks still on her face, sat quietly by her grandmother’s bedside.
“Little girl… where are your parents?”
The capable and assertive woman had followed them all the way from the mall, even having her secretary pay all the bills. She was now sitting beside the hospital bed, speaking to her.
Ruan Mei turned to look at her. Only after her mood had calmed down did she realize that upon closer inspection, the features of this mature woman bore some resemblance to Fang Zhishui.